Abstract
This chapter suggests that the charismatic rock singer and author Nick Cave's recent public persona has been characterised by a ‘therapeutic turn’. The chapter will focus upon the launch of Cave's ‘The Red Hand Files’ (TRHF) project in 2018 – an online forum to facilitate an open unmoderated dialogue between the artist and the public – and argues that it is representative of a (re)positioning of Cave as digital-media guru. Moreover, the apparent compassionate nature of exchange between artist and fan signals a momentarily cultural counterpoint to the often ‘toxic’, and highly regulated interaction between artist and fan that normally characterises the social media relationship. Cave's adoption of a ‘therapeutic’ persona problematises orthodox readings of celebrity/artist as avatar thesis (Marshall et al., 2020) and in so doing points towards ways in which a virtual reimagining of the public realm might provide a secular theology of cyberspace (Zizek, 1998) as a realm of compassionate humanist discourse centred upon a late-modern ‘philosophy of wonder’ (Lasch, 1991b; Parsons, 1969).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Digital Wellness, Health and Fitness Influencers |
| Subtitle of host publication | Critical Perspectives on Digital Guru Media |
| Editors | Stefan Lawrence |
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | Routledge Taylor & Francis Group |
| Pages | 173-194 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781003256021 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781032044422 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Oct 2022 |